


or (intermission)

by grumpyhedgehogs



Series: if hamlet from himself be ta'en away [2]
Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst, Based on a Tumblr Post, Brainwashing, Dysfunctional Family, Family Feels, Gen, Hurt Zuko (Avatar), Implied/Referenced Brainwashing, Mild Hurt/Comfort, Mind Control, Mind Control Aftermath & Recovery, Partial Mind Control, Rescue Missions, Series, author has not watched avatar in a couple months so if the timeline is wrong no it isn't, link to the tumblr post in first fic of this series
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-03
Updated: 2021-01-03
Packaged: 2021-03-12 19:47:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,988
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28515912
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/grumpyhedgehogs/pseuds/grumpyhedgehogs
Summary: The Dai Li come for Zuko in the evening.“Master Joo Lee must return with us to the barracks now.”
Relationships: Aang & Zuko (Avatar), Azula & Zuko (Avatar), Dai Li & Zuko, Katara & Zuko (Avatar), Sokka & Zuko (Avatar), Toph Beifong & Zuko, Zuko (Avatar) & Everyone
Series: if hamlet from himself be ta'en away [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2088897
Comments: 17
Kudos: 359





	or (intermission)

**Author's Note:**

> A continuation of my 'Zuko is brainwashed by the Dai Li' oneshot. Expect one more part in the series.

“And then Aang turned into this big fish spirit and wiped out the entire Fire Nation navy!” Sokka waved his arms in huge, flailing motions, indicating rising and falling waves. “Your Uncle Iroh was there, and he’s always been pretty cool, so he was trying to help us. You stole Aang from us for a while, but he obviously got back to turn into a fish spirit and save us. I don’t really know what happened to you after that.” Sokka looks around at his friends.

“A couple of the Northern Water tribesmen said they saw you.” Katara picks up the story, glancing at Zuko furtively. His face is hard to read where he’s usually so expressive; Sokka hopes she can get more from the Prince than he can. She has to reach out and use some waterbending to stop the bleeding nose that’s started up again. The liquid is the only red Zuko has had on him the whole time he’s been here--it looks so wrong. “They said you were fighting Zhao, but he got swept away and you didn’t. I always wondered why you didn’t go after Zuko too, Aang.”

“I don’t really remember it,” Aang answers. He scuffs a hand across the back of his neck and doesn’t meet anyone’s eyes. Then he looks up and tries to smile at the firebender. “It would’ve been mean, anyway. Maybe it’s because I knew the two of us could be friends!”

There’s something behind those words Sokka can’t decipher, like an inside joke. He shakes it off. “So does any of this ring a bell?”

Zuko doesn’t lean away from Katara’s help, but he’s still stiff as a board. He waits until she lowers her hand again and looks around at them. He’s been very quiet ever since they asked--ordered, really, but that makes Sokka’s stomach turn to think about--him to sit down. They’ve been trying to talk to him all day, offering different anecdotes of their fights with Zuko, escaping from Zuko, fighting Zuko’s crazy sister with him and his crazy Uncle just a few weeks ago. 

Zuko had stared into each of their faces and shaken like a leaf in a gale. He’d hesitated to come within arm’s reach, as if they would tackle him and hold him down at any moment. They’ve tried to comfort him but he’d pulled away and cowered like a scared dog before slipping back into Joo Lee’s awful smile. It took them twenty minutes to get rid of it again, all yelling and pleading and awkward pats on the head until Zuko shook Joo Lee off again. But he’s still not--not _him_ , not really Zuko, just someone in-between. Zuko without Zuko’s personality or memories if the way he’s looking so lost now is any indication. He’s a blank slate.

“I--” Zuko shakes his head. A vessel has burst in his good eye, probably a result of fighting Joo Lee off, and the sclera is turning crimson. Katara will have to heal that, too. “The Dai Li have raised me to be the face of Ba Sing--”

“Okay!” Sokka cuts him off quickly. He spreads their map out across the table they sit in front of, and points to a sketch of a volcano. “Let’s start again. While we’re on the subject of Zhao, we might as well tell you about the time he tried to kill all of us, including you, Zuko.”

~

The Dai Li come for Zuko in the evening. 

“Master Joo Lee must return with us to the barracks now.”

“Wait, but can’t he stay with us for dinner?” Katara sweeps a hand out towards the food Zuko had ordered for them. Even with the break through earlier, he’d slipped a few times since--Joo Lee couldn’t stop himself from making sure his guests were taken care of. He offered food and water, got them blankets, and only sat with them when they forced him to. If even a pillow was kicked out of place during the ensuing discussion of their past, he’d have to jump to fix it. It made something in Sokka shrink away in revulsion. Prince Zuko is a warrior and a commander of the Fire Navy and an excellent firebender; Joo Lee is nothing more than a puppet. “He’s been such a help, telling us all about Ba Sing Se’s culture. We’d appreciate more lessons so we don’t get anything wrong when we go exploring tomorrow.”

Joo Lee is a slave. They can’t let him go back to the Dai Li.

“I will accompany you wherever you go tomorrow.” Zuko offers. His smile is back but his voice is blank, void of the false cheer he’d had before. They’re getting to him, Sokka knows it, but it’s going too slowly. Katara can only heal so much at once, and she’d been fearful of how skinny Zuko is. He’s lost muscle definition, has more scars on his arms than they’ve seen there before. He’s a mess, just like Toph said he is. He’s unwell, just like Aang pointed out. These Dai Li have not been kind, and it makes that little bit of common decency Sokka has left wither at the signs of Joo Lee coming back again. “I can meet you early in the morning to get started. We will have such fun in the city together!”

“But what if you just stay for a few minutes? You can finish telling us that story about the last feast at the palace,” Sokka lies. Sweat gathers at his brow. 

At his elbow, Aang nods eagerly. “And you can walk back after!”

“Master Joo Lee is a prominent figure in Ba Sing Se,” one of the guards intones sternly. He lays a heavy hand on Zuko’s shoulder and Sokka feels sick. “He will not be safe traveling home alone. We must take him with us for his own protection. You understand.”

Toph bites her lip when Sokka turns to her imploringly, but shakes her head slightly. Even with her court experience she won’t be able to come up with a plausible excuse to get Joo Lee to stay the entire night with them. But Sokka knows that’s the least of their worries; if they don’t get Appa back soon, there’s no way they’ll get out of Ba Sing Se as it is, let alone rescue Zuko while they’re at it.

“Yes,” Sokka speaks for them all. His stomach flips again as Zuko is turned away by the grip on his shoulder. Those gold eyes catch his for a second, and Sokka sees recognition there before it is snuffed out by the Dai Li’s suffocating presence. Their eye contact breaks. Sokka is left watching the doors swing closed on the image of Zuko’s much slighter form bracketed by the hulking Dai Li stealing him away. “We understand.”

~

“Don’t flatter yourself. You were never even a player.”

Long Feng bows his head against her gloating and Azula’s inner flame glows brighter. She smiles to herself and feels Ty Lee and Mai taking their rightful places at her sides. The Earth Kingdom is hers now; the throne may be marble but it is  _ very  _ comfortable. Long Feng still grovels at her feet, in his rightful place, of course, but he is becoming rather tiresome. Until Azula tunes in to his next words, wheedling their way into her brain.

“I suppose you will want to be seeing Prince Zuko soon.”

“Prince Zuko?” Her mouth tastes of ash--and not the good kind fire flakes usually provoke. “Whatever news do you have of that pathetic traitor to the crown?”

Zuko went missing months ago. Uncle Iroh, clad in Earth Kingdom colors, had been desperate enough to reveal his location and come to her naval fleet for help. But Azula had spied and sent soldiers and tried to  _ drill her way into Ba Sing Se _ \--and had found absolutely nothing. It has been as if their father’s final wish came true: Zuko simply does not exist any longer. Long Feng’s smile prompts bile to rise in her throat.

“You haven’t heard? Prince Zuko is a beneficiary of the Dai Li’s protection. He has come around to Earth Kingdom ways of thinking in the past few months. I have been informed he makes great progress in the Joo Lee program.”

The words are biting, designed to slice into her flesh and make her bleed. He is on his knees and she is on the throne, yet Long Feng still holds Azula’s heart in an icy grip.

But Princess Azula of the Fire Nation does not lose. 

“I’m sorry,” Azula tilts her head. Her teeth glint in the low light. Long Feng’s smile drops, just as she wished it would. “What did you just imply you did to  _ my  _ brother?”

~

“We’ll follow them as far as we can without splitting up,” Sokka whispers. He remembers to keep his head down and his voice low. “But if we need to, if we find any sign of Appa, Katara and Toph, you follow Zuko. Aang and I will follow the lead on Appa. Toph will be able to track his heartbeat better than I can track their footprints in the dust, and Katara--”

“What?”

“You might need to be ready to heal him from whatever--whatever they’re doing.” He chokes out. Aang hisses quietly behind him. Sokka squeezes his eyes shut before slinking to the next building. Ahead of them, Zuko is being hauled along by the shoulders and biceps, caught up in the wake of the Dai Li. They swerve around a corner and Sokka suppresses a curse before hurrying to catch up.

He really does curse when he sees the trio disappear into a secret entrance underground. “This is gonna be way harder than we thought, guys.”

“Then we’d better get started,” Toph replies. They only just manage to slip into the passage before the doors close--Aang stubs his toes on rocks and knocks into Sokka’s back, but he manages to catch them both before they go tumbling. All four of them still. Gravel skitters loudly down the tunnel.

“What was that?” One of the Dai Li’s voices floats back to them. The darkness closes around them, only the light of the Dai Li's lantern letting Sokka know they've stopped to look back. He and his friends turn to statues.

“Probably just rock shifting,” the other replies.

“Are you sure?” Their words grow fainter as the Dai Li turn away, and if Sokka doesn’t move now, they’ll lose sight of the green and gold lanterns the guards carry with them. He hurries as much as he dares, careful where he steps. Toph slips into the lead and Sokka yields easily; she’ll have a better chance of leading them if they do lose sight of Zuko.

Never had he thought the idea of leaving Zuko behind would make his stomach curdle like it does. Sokka’s heart lodges in his throat anyway.

“Isn’t it natural for earth in a city of earthbenders to, you know, move?” Zuko speaks up unexpectedly. Bless his stupid firebending little heart, but that penchant for sass seems to have made it through the Joo Lee training. He’s about to get his tongue cut out if he isn’t careful, though, so Sokka prays he’ll shut up.

There’s grumbling and shifting and the sound of fist meeting flesh and a grunt. Sokka scowls in the dark. They turn a corner just in time to see the three figures disappear into another room. The door slides closed behind them, cutting off the long shadows they cast against the other wall of the tunnel.

“Oh no!” Katara mutters. “We’ll never get in there without alerting them now!”

“Uh guys--we might have a bigger problem.”

Sokka turns at Aang’s shaking voice, sure he’ll be met with more cloying darkness, and catches sight of blue flames. 

“Well, that’s just perfect.”


End file.
